Wai Chung Fu,
Assistant Professor,
City University of Hong Kong
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Wai Chung earned his B.Sc. (Honours) in Chemistry from Hong Kong Baptist University and his PhD from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). During his graduate studies with Professor Fuk Yee Kwong at PolyU, he focused on the development of phosphine ligands and challenging Pd-catalyzed coupling reactions. In 2018, he joined Professor Timothy F. Jamison’s lab at MIT as a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow, where he developed a modular continuous flow synthesis of Imatinib and discovered novel reactivity in Wittig intermediates. He then returned to Hong Kong in 2020 and became a research assistant professor at PolyU. In July 2023, he was appointed as Assistant Professor of Chemistry at City University of Hong Kong. His current research interests include synthetic methodologies, and the discovery and application of new chemical reactions in continuous flow.
Enabling Divergent Reaction Pathways of R-22 Gas in Continuous Flow
Sunday, 7 June 2026 at 12:00
Add to Calendar ▼2026-06-07 12:00:002026-06-07 13:00:00Europe/LondonEnabling Divergent Reaction Pathways of R-22 Gas in Continuous FlowFlow Chemistry Asia 2026 in Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen, ChinaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
The difluoromethyl (CF2H) group and other fluoroalkyl moieties are demonstrated to enhance the biological properties for pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, such as bioavailability, metabolic stability, and lipophilicity. However, many fluoroalkylation reagents are often toxic, expensive, exhibit low atom economy, or require multiple synthetic steps to prepare. In this discussion, we explore the use of atom-efficient and cost-effective R-22 gas (ClCF2H) in continuous flow, highlighting flow technologies that enable previously improbable reaction conditions and selectively direct the reaction pathways of ClCF2H. In the first two studies, unstable difluorinated oxaphosphetane and difluorocarbenes are generated in-line and are immediately consumed to provide diverse classes of CF2D-containing molecules. Recently, we also demonstrated the first gas-to-gas organic synthesis in flow, in which difluoromethyl azide gas (HCF2N3) is generated on-demand from ClCF2H, and is then used in cycloadditions to prepare N-CF2H triazoles.
Add to Calendar ▼2026-06-06 00:00:002026-06-07 00:00:00Europe/LondonFlow Chemistry Asia 2026Flow Chemistry Asia 2026 in Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen, ChinaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
Add to Calendar ▼2026-06-07 12:00:002026-06-07 13:00:00Europe/LondonEnabling Divergent Reaction Pathways of R-22 Gas in Continuous FlowFlow Chemistry Asia 2026 in Shenzhen, ChinaShenzhen, ChinaSELECTBIOenquiries@selectbiosciences.com
